Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Fun online

During yesterday's busy and, I think, ultimately fruitful debate about blog reviewing over at Read Roger, I neglected to post on a number of interesting things happening in the kidlitosphere. Reviewing aside, blogs are an easy, fast, and flexible way to present news and information. Here's what's up:

Over the past two days I've listened to the first seven chapters of L. Lee Lowe's Mortal Ghost. In this first part of Lowe's novel, Jesse, a teen runaway, is taken in by Sarah and her mother, Meg. Jesse, who is traumatized in a way we don't know about until Chapter 7, is suspicious of their intentions and Meg's almost miraculous healing powers. Sarah--an accepting and intelligent girl--wants Jesse to seek shelter with them, but Jesse remains uneasy. Maybe they'll hurt him in their good intentions? Oh, and strange things begin happening in Chapter Seven. Great listening (the reader is a young Welsh musician) and a compelling text. You can cheat by reading ahead, but I'm holding out for more audio. Mortal Ghost is highly recommended and FREE online.

The first-ever wiki children's novel is chugging right along. Four chapters are up now and Moctor Fall (so christened by A Fuse #8) is in all kinds of trouble. I just put up pages for chapters five and six and they're waiting to be filled with text. If you're interested in participating, send me an e-mail.